Question

A child has been prescribed 0.5 g vancomycin in 100 mL sodium chloride 0.9%. This must be infused at a rate not exceeding 10 mg/min. What is the rate in mL/hr?

Answer 1

To calculate the infusion rate for vancomycin, convert grams to milligrams, determine the rate in mL/min based on the maximum allowed mg/min infusion rate, and then convert to mL/hr. The infusion rate for this prescription of vancomycin is 120 mL/hr.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the rate in mL/hr, we need to convert the medication dose from grams to milligrams and then divide by the infusion rate in milligrams per minute. The child has been prescribed 0.5 g (500 mg) of vancomycin, and the maximum rate is 10 mg/min.

First, we calculate the total infusion time in minutes by dividing the medication dose by the maximum rate: 500 mg / 10 mg/min = 50 minutes.

Next, we convert the infusion time from minutes to hours by dividing by 60: 50 minutes / 60 = 0.833 hours.

Finally, we calculate the rate in mL/hr by dividing the total infusion volume (100 mL) by the infusion time in hours: 100 mL / 0.833 hours ≈ 120 mL/hr.